


The Struggle for Neverland

by Lost_Girl_02



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), Peter Pan & Related Fandoms
Genre: Neverland, Peter Pan is not Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold's Father, Season 3 AU, Skull Rock, Sympathetic Peter Pan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-07-03 18:31:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15824538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lost_Girl_02/pseuds/Lost_Girl_02
Summary: Felix and the rest of the Lost Ones are fed up following Pan, what will happen if they decide to take the island from him? Written before 3x07, but a little AU subplot that could have happened throughout the rest of that season.





	The Struggle for Neverland

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this years ago, but just recently opened an Ao3 account, so I figured this might be a nice first post.
> 
> Enjoy!

Trees grew closely together, making it difficult for most people to move silently through the forest. The leaves were a dark green and many fallen trees made up the barriers of the Lost Ones' camp. A fire crackled within the camp, but it only provided light for the boys who lived there, doing little to warm the cold nights. This cold night, almost none of the Lost Ones resided inside the camp. Only the sentries were left to guard the Truest Believer: a ten-year-old boy named Henry.

He sat near the fire, used to the cold temperatures of Maine, but the nights on the island seemed unnaturally cold. Looking around, he saw the deserted camp, the boys having trailed off in twos or threes throughout the evening.  _What is going on?_

* * *

"Everyone here?"  Felix asked, mentally counting the boys gathered in the clearing.

"Only the sentries and Henry are still at the camp," a Lost One called from the back of the clearing.

"Good," Felix said, the firelight darkening his blonde hair and causing his scarred cheek to become much more pronounced.

"Why are we here?" Another boy shouted.

"Glad you asked.  I've called you all here to talk a bit about Pan.  For decades and centuries, the Lost Ones have served Pan, never leaving this cursed island.  But I have been here longer than anyone else and even I don't know the extent of Pan's influence, or his powers.  Some might think his magic is what keeps us safe, but now that he has the heart of the Truest Believer, those powers will grow.  Eventually, he won't need us anymore.  And if we aren't needed by Pan, he'll think us his enemies.  We all know what Pan does to his enemies."

A collective shudder went through the Lost Ones at the memory of countless shadows being ripped painfully from people's bodies.

"Pan never lets us do what we want," Felix continued, his voice rising to a shout.  "We outnumber him fifty to one, and I'm sure Henry will side with us once he knows he'll be able to go home.  And with the Truest Believer on our side, we can defeat Pan and take Neverland for ourselves!"

A cheer rose up from the boys in the clearing, but was quickly silenced once Felix put up a hand.

"We have to wait for the right oppor--" He was cut off as the tell-tale clang of metal-on-metal was heard coming from the fort.

When the Lost Ones returned to the fort, the Truest Believer was nowhere to be found, and Pan was furiously pacing in the middle of the clearing.

"Where were you?"  Pan demanded, stalking up to the taller second-in-command.  "Don't you understand?  Henry's family came for him.  Maybe if some of you had been there..."  He trailed off as Felix stepped forward, lowering his weapon to Pan's neck.

"Why did you let them escape?"  Felix asked, "Henry's been taken before, so why did you let him escape this time?"

"Choose your next words very carefully," Pan said, his voice low and dangerous.  "Just because this island doesn't have much magic anymore, that doesn't mean I don't."

"Oh, we know.  We also know how you love to play your little mind games.  So here's my game: we're done being your servants, Pan.  We outnumber you...so let's see how far you make it before we catch you."

"Good luck running this island," Pan warned, the shadows unnaturally bending around his form until he disappeared into thin air.

At Felix's command, the former Lost Ones ran back into the forest, intent on searching for and capturing Pan.

_He can't run forever_ , Felix thought, a dark smirk spreading over his face.  _Soon enough, he will tire, and the Lost Ones would be waiting when he does_.

"We found him!"  One boy cried, running to Felix.  "But it's not going very well."

He led the oldest Lost One into a clearing, where twenty boys were surrounding their former leader.  About half as many were unconscious; Pan had clearly gotten the better of them.

"Pan's magic is powerful, but one simple..." Felix crept up behind Pan, and swung his weapon, the slight, magical boy crumpling to the dirt. "Chain him," he barked, and the Lost Ones instantly obeyed.  "Take him to Prisoner's Rock."

The former Lost Ones loaded the captured Pan onto a dory and rowed out to the hollow caverns that filled the oddly-shaped rock that had seemingly risen out of the waters of the lagoon.

Pan was taken to one of the more central caverns and his hands were shackled on a short chain to the cave wall above his head.

"He's not going to be waking anytime soon," Felix said, leading the boys out of the cavern.  "Report back to me tomorrow on his condition."

The boys mumbled their assent, the entire crew boarding the dory and rowing back to the main island to claim their prize.

* * *

"Felix," one of the boys cried, sprinting into the clearing.  "Pan's awake."

The blond smiled, his scar stretching and twisting, his delight clear in his dark eyes.  "Good."

The leader and the messenger rowed back out to Pan's prison.  Felix didn't even wait for the boat to stop moving, before jumping out and making his way straight to Pan's cell.

"What do you want?  Traitor," Pan added the last part as an afterthought.  He was clearly trying to keep his tone conversational, but there were signs of strain all over his face and his eyes didn't have their usual calculative gleam.

"Just making sure you don't die.  You never knew when we might need your magic again," Felix tried to keep the smugness out of his voice, but he couldn't help the twisted smirk that crossed his features.

"That's encouraging," Pan replied sarcastically.  "This place is filled with dark magic."

"Then you should feel right at home," Felix interrupted, cutting Pan off and walking out of the cavern.

"So you would think," Pan muttered, wincing as pain coursed through his body, sweat beading in his red-brown hair.  The dark magic was eating through his strength, his magic, and in time--his life force.

For days he wasted away in the cave.  He didn't need to eat much anymore, but his throat soon grew parched with thirst.  On one of those hazy days--the ones filled with pain and nightmares--an explosion rocked the cavern, its captive jerking violently sideways and his arm popped out of its socket.

Blinking through the pain, he craned his neck and looked out of the huge hole to his left.  The lagoon where the mermaids lived was smoking and the she-fish were swimming out to open waters, V-shaped ripples marking their path.

The boy was almost blinded with rage.  Felix and his "games" had broken the golden rule of the island, and he would pay the price for it.  Dearly.

Settling back onto the dusty cave floor, pain flared as his shoulder bumped against the cave wall.  He clamped his eyes shut and jammed his shoulder against the wall.  With a sickening  _pop_ he fixed his dislocated shoulder.

Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and the dark magic of the Rock was taking all of the strength the captive had left.  His own magic kept him alive, well past the point starvation would have killed him, but it wasn't enough to stop the evilness that crept into his very core.

And the boy soon lost hope.

Nightmares lasted for days, but it wasn't those terrors that haunted him, that scared him.  It was his own hopelessness.  His strength was slowly ebbing away and Peter knew no one would come for him when his life strength finally faded.

As the first tears leaked out of his eyes and a strangled sob caught in his throat, a figure darkened the cave's entrance and Felix strode in.

Peter didn't have the strength anymore to lift his head and look at his, former, friend.  He knew how Felix must see him: his hair was shaggy and matted, his clothes were in tatters, practically hanging off his limp body.

"Well, well, what do we have here?"  Felix gloated, drinking in the prisoner's fear.  "Are you actually crying?  Is the great Peter Pan reduced to a pathetic, sobbing, lost boy?"

Peter couldn't wipe at the tears that kept trickling out of his green eyes, but his head jerked upwards and his chains rattled when he heard Felix crouch.

"Come on Pan.  Time to fly."

 


End file.
